


I'll think of you every step of the way

by Mooresomore



Category: Swimming RPF
Genre: Allison the PR girl, Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Boys Being Boys, M/M, mentions of Ian Crocker, mentions of Ian Thorpe, random thoughts, that damn picture, too lazy to turn into a real story so just transcribed, written prior to Rio 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-18 22:54:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8178877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mooresomore/pseuds/Mooresomore
Summary: The Ryan/Michael Bodyguard AU you never knew you wanted. Inspired by this: "http://lyrics-soul.livejournal.com/10880.html?thread=1192576"





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mae428](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mae428/gifts).



> Of course, the title is stolen from "I Will Always Love You". :) I can't ever think of this song without thinking of "The Bodyguard" and vice versa.
> 
> This was all written before shit went down in Rio-so that alcohol comment must have been some premonition or some crazy deal.
> 
> I was too lazy to make it all nice and pretty (it was recorded on a digital voice recorder as I went to/from work; I just transcribed it. Sorry if it's hard to read/doesn't make a lot of sense (I tried to cut out all of my "squirrel!"/digression moments, lol...)

Becoming a bodyguard had always been Ryan Lochte’s dream. He wanted to protect and serve others (he thought being a cop had too much excitement- he really didn’t want to be shot at or die in a high speed police chase. Plus, there was the whole going to court thing.).

Right out of academy, he had been accepted into the internship program in the Florida Governor’s office; once he’d graduated that as well (at the top of his class); he was given his first job- protect the governor as he helped with the presidential campaign.

He was midway into that detail when he was pulled in by his boss. “You have a new assignment.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No, quite the contrary. These people specifically asked for you.”

“Um, ok?” Ryan said. “And they are?”

“PR for Michael Phelps.”

*

Just met Ryan and Michael’s PR had decided to hire Ryan

Obviously Ryan accepts job (unsure if want Ryan to know who Michael is/why Michael picked him)

“Oh, ok, I guess this this guy wants me to be his bodyguard, and he’s a professional swimmer, so this is probably a good job I’ve got here; not that guarding the governor is a bad gig, but high profile assassination attempts, eh, not really my thing.” Ryan thinks. He decides to accept the job; tells boss he’ll take it (boss already figures “duh, you’re taking this job”)

Unknown number calling; PR people. Why Michael needs bodyguard and apparently Michael has become a big deal over the last couple of years; Ryan hasn’t been paying much attention. Let’s face it: he’s not a big swimming fan, but he’d always tune in to the Olympics to watch Michael, because, yeah, guy was good. 18 Gold medals- he was actually pretty fucking great.

Ask when he can start; Ryan says right away; Ryan says he can pack up things; PR says, “No, stay there. You just come- we’ll put you up in a hotel; you don’t have to move. We’re putting you in a hotel because you’re going to do a lot of traveling the next couple of weeks.”

Takes Ryan a couple of minutes to realize why-oh, duh, it’s an Olympic year.

Figures out he’s going to be the bodyguard for the Olympics. Ok, yeah, he could go with that.

Next question is “Uh, do I need my passport?”

PR says, no they have that covered too- Ryan is like “good, cause I kind of forgot about that.”

All things aside, things are going great.

He just hasn’t met Michael yet, so he doesn’t know what to expect, but he thinks Michael will be a cool guy.

They meet for the first time, about a week or so after initial contact between PR and Ryan. Ryan goes to this weird place that they told him to meet at, and he doesn’t know how to get there, but Charlotte (his GPS) seems to lead him in the right direction, so he ends up there early for once, which, for Ryan, is saying something, but he wants to make a good impression on the kid.

He shows up, sits down, and waits, and then Alison, the PR girl comes in and says, “Hi, I’m Alison, nice to meet you, yadda yadda yadda” and they start talking. Then Michael shows up, and from there, it’s kind of like they’ve known each other all of their lives; Michael sits down, they start talking; no mention of R being bodyguard, it’s like this unspoken thing. They start talking like best buddies, and the next thing they know, Alison is saying “you got to go to practice. It’s like 3 pm.” (been there since 10 AM). Make plans to hang out more/get to know each other more (if you’re going to be guarded by somebody, you kind of want to know who you’re dealing with). Today was more Ryan learning about Michael; Michael wants to learn more about Ryan now.

Michael goes to practice; invites Ryan along. Ryan’s all “nah, I’m good, thanks. I, uh, chlorine makes me sick.” Michael is all “really?” Ryan laughs and says, “Nah, just messing with you dude. I actually had plans to go meet up with my sister who I haven’t seen in a couple of weeks/months/whatever.”

Michael is all “that’s cool. So, we’ll get together next time then. Ryan is all “yeah, let’s do that. It’ll be fun.”

They make plans and hang out, and then it’s about a week later or so, and they’ve hung out a couple more times. You know, Michael really likes this kids, and he’s all, “I trust him; he’ll be good”

Almost time for trials in London. They’re doing one more quick set of tune-up trials before the actual Olympics, and so Ryan comes along and starts being the bodyguard. Michael thought Ryan was kidding when he said he was going to wear a suit, but Ryan shows up in a suit and all shaved and all that, and Michael actually laughs out loud at first, because “dude, really? Can you be more obvious?”

Ryan is all “Hello. I’m being a bodyguard. Like in the movies. That’s what bodyguards do.” Michael laughs and says “next time just wear street clothes. I don’t want them to know I have a bodyguard, you know? I just want to be a normal person for once.”

Then the thought crosses Ryan’s mind: Oh, yeah, that would be kind of nice to not know that you’re being guarded; then Ryan feels horrible because he doesn’t even know what to think; he’s never been on that side of things. He’s always been the person protecting, not the one needed protection, so he’s never really thought how they must feel. You know, having someone there all the time. So, he files the information back for later, and tries not to act too embarrassed that he screwed this whole thing up, because he wants it to be perfect for Michael because Michael is a great guy (and yadda, yadda, yadda).

It is kind of funny because the next time Michael is there and Ryan shows up and Michael is all “what the heck are you wearing?” because Ryan has on this lime green shirt that has got bedazzled on it with rhinestones and all this crap. Ryan is like “I thought you told me to wear my street clothes.” Michael says “Are these your street clothes?” Ryan says, “Uh, yeah?”

Michael is all “Oh, Ryan, we’re going to have to take you shopping dude. Because that’s so not the type- I mean it’s awesome and all, but you got, like, hello neon sign.”

Ryan is “but it’s cool. And it’s sparkly!” Michael can’t hold back the laugh; Ryan has a point. Sparkly is kind of neat. But really, no. Just, no.

Michael looks down and realizes that Ryan’s shoes match his t shirt. And that’s when the laughing really starts. Michael kind of forgets to breathe for a minute; Ryan has to slap him on the back to remind Michael to breathe. “We don’t need you dying here.”

In between wheezes of laughter, Michael says, “at least you’ve got some fashion sense, because your shoes and shirt match, and Ryan says “damn straight son.”

Michael takes Ryan out shopping because, if he’s being guarded by Ryan, he wants everything to look nice. It’s funny- Michael takes him to a fancy store, and Ryan looks and goes “really dude?” and Michael goes “yeah. Um, don’t you need clothes?”

Ryan goes, “here?”

“Yeah. What’s wrong with here?”

“Michael, it’s like 100 dollars for a t-shirt.”

“So? I’ve got the money.”

“No, I can’t expect you to do that.” Ryan says.

Michael is “It’s part of your salary. A bonus.” Ryan goes, “Ok. Guess I can’t argue with that.” (Ryan isn’t used to spending that much on clothing. Sure, he’s spent 35-40 dollars on a tee, but really, 100 dollars for one t shirt?”

They manage through it; Michael picks out a couple of things he really likes. Ryan tries them on. There’s a couple that are really bad and they’re all “uh, no”. But most of them, Michael has good taste, Ryan has to admit.

Then Ryan looks at Michael. “Ok, as part of my first thing, I want to pick something out for you.” Michael goes, “Ok. That’s fair enough. I’ve been picking out clothes for you all day, and like I said, you have good fashion sense, so go for it.” He quickly adds, “But no blinged out stuff.” Ryan goes, “Oh, you underestimate me.”

Ryan picks out this really nice suit; it’s black, but he picks out a lime green tie. Michael can’t argue, it looks pretty damn good. Then Ryan has to go and find the lime green shirt, and he gets a black tie to go with the green shirt. Then he makes Michael go and try it on. And they both look at it and say, “Yeah, we can go with this.”

Lime green kind of becomes their color at this point.

They get all of their clothes, and Michael goes “hey, so I, um, have the trials tonight. Do you want to come?”

Ryan goes, “I’m already going to be there, guarding you, aren’t I?”

Michael says, “Yeah, but I mean, do you want to come, like come watch me, like just being there as a person, not like my bodyguard?”

Ryan says, “Oh, like a friend deal”

Michael goes, “yeah. Sure, you can call it that.”

Ryan says, “Yeah, sure, let’s do that. It would be kind of cool, and you know, you can point things out to me when you’re not swimming, because to be honest buddy, I’ve never really been much of a swimming fan.” Ryan chuckles softly. “I’ve watched a few races here and there, but I really don’t understand that. It’d be really nice to know why the turns are there, why this is there, what stroke it what.” Michael laughs and says “I can help you out there.” They both grin, and Ryan says, yeah, let’s do that.

They show up early because women’s swimming is first; they sit there, and Michael starts pointing things out and just talking. Ryan has to admit, this is kind of nice. He didn’t really have any friends; he still doesn’t really have any friends, so you know, to hang out with somebody and just kind of hang out and feel nice and relaxed is a nice feeling.

So, he enjoys it, and from the look on Michael’s face, Michael is enjoying it too. It’s also nice to see him relaxed and not this stoic character he’s been bodyguarding the last couple of days. Ryan takes it as a win. The way Michael lights up when he’s trying to explain to Ryan all the different- the difference between the breaststroke and the fly and the IM, all that stuff, the way he lights up, Ryan really likes that, and he wants to see more of that, so he’ll suffer through more swimming matches if he has to just to listen to Michael talk because the guy is pretty knowledgeable, and besides being able to swim (uh, 18 gold medals), he actually is knowledgeable and knows what to say to make somebody who’s not heard much about swimming (or only watched it for the cute guy who’s won 18 gold medals) understand how things work.

They sit there in a nice comfortable kind of silence at points, but it doesn’t feel awkward; they’re both relaxed and calm. Ryan is in the lime green tee again; Michael slaps him upside the head. Ryan is all “what?! I had to wear it one more time before I sent it back home.” And Michael says, “You’re sending it home?”

“Yeah? You said not to wear it again.”

Michael goes, “Ryan, I was just kidding, I mean. I didn’t mean.”

Ryan goes, “No, it’s ok. My mom has been telling me that for the last 5 years. And you know what, maybe it’s time to give up the bling.”

Michael laughs. “Five years dude? Really?”

Ryan goes, “What? It’s comfortable, it fits, and it’s blinged out. What’s not to love?”

Michael “I gotta meet your mom. She sounds awesome dude.” Then he realizes what he said, and that kind of got awkward quickly. But Ryan, to his credit, just shakes it off. “Yeah, man, you’ll love her man. She’s fun. And, maybe later on, you can meet her. Right now, let’s just get through the Olympics and the trials, because you’re going to be too busy to be doing anything but eating, sleeping, and swimming here in a few minutes.” And Michael can’t argue with that, because, yeah, it’s a couple of crazy weeks.

Anyway, the trials finish up; Michael wins everything (because of course Michael always does), and then they get ready to go to the Olympics, which this year are in… Italy.

Ryan looks and is all, “Oh my gosh, what is going on here?”

*

Florence Italy (romantic and all that jazz)

They go over a couple of days early. About a week early, because, well, it’s easier to be early instead of late.

They’re being touristy, because that’s how they roll. (Silly boys).

For all the stuff Michael had done with the swimming; this is his turn to see Ryan being the one with a smile on his face, being a tourist, and doing all that crazy crap. It’s Michael’s turn to get the smile on his face watching Ryan do all the tourist crap.

Ryan says something about the boat ride; Michael is thinking “OK?” he does a quick thing there and thinks, “Wait a minute. Um, is he talking about with everything this being my bodyguard on this?”

Ryan is all, “No, dude. I want to go. If you want to take somebody, that’s your deal.”

Michael is all “No, I’ll come with you. That sounds like fun.”

They decide to go for a boat ride, because that’s totally what you do when you’re in Italy.

It’s fun, and Michael just laughs looking at and watching Ryan because it’s funny to see him turn into this total like lit up like a kid at Christmas look; the smiles, the laughs, everything like that.

They- well, Michael, because Ryan has no clue about the second part that is going to happen- but Michael decides he’s going to take Ryan on it again during the Olympics, to kind of destress from it all.

So, it’s fun, and they get to see a lot of the sites. Ryan plays tourist- lots of photos; lots of selfies, all that crap. Michael thinks it is kind of annoying with all the selfies, but he kind of enjoys it, because it’s funny to see Ryan all relaxed and not a bodyguard; kind of like a “buddy”.

Olympics- back to all business. To/from hotel, games, autographs, you name it. Ryan is professional- suit/tie, the green one that Michael picked out of course. (Michael was just kidding with the lime green, but it actually looks pretty good on Ryan.)

Michael doesn’t do too well in his first preliminary- he makes it in, but barely. He’s super stressed out, and Ryan’s like “No, come on man, you just got to let it go.” And Michael goes “Really? When did you become my coach?” Ryan goes “Uh, bodyguards can help coach too.” And then Ryan reveals he used to swim- not competitively, he never made it that far, but he enjoyed it. Too much work; he didn’t like it.

He gives Michael a couple pointers, and Michael pretends to not listen, because he does not need his bodyguard telling him what to do, but he kind of follows Ryan’s advice, and miraculously, it actually helps. From that point, Michael listens to what Ryan has to say, because Ryan seems to know what he’s talking about.

Michael makes it to semis; completely blows away competition in the first one. Second one, not so much. He gets it, but he could have done a little better. Nothing to cry over, because he’s in the finals. So, nothing wrong there.

They get going and get to finals of first race, and Michael is kind of nervous, because, he hasn’t swam like this in a while, it’s been four years, and he’s had the trials and all, but this is when it comes down to the real deal. And, he’s always been touted as the “greatest of all time” and all the pressure is really on him, and he realizes people are thinking that, and what if I don’t live up to it? He has a little bit of a confidence lapse, and of course, Ryan is right there, getting him back into the mindset of “don’t listen to your doubts. You’re going to do it. You know what you’re doing. You’re going to be great.”

And of course, what would you expect? Michael wins a gold medal. Ryan is the first one there when Michael gets out of the pool. Michael can’t help it; he grabs Ryan in a one-armed hug and gets Ryan all wet.

Ryan laughs, but he’s “really dude? This is my nice suit, and now it’s all wet and chlorinated. And I told you how I feel about chlorine.” They share a laugh; Michael goes on and does all his press and crap, and gets back in, ready to do the next one.

Same result- a win. Grabs Ryan, everything.

They’re doing great. Buddies during the day- hanging out. And Michael is starting to come to the conclusion- “It’s more fun when I’m hanging with Ryan than when I’m not.” Because, at the end of the night, Ryan goes to his own room two down from Michael’s, and Michael feels like there is a piece missing. He isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s kind of got that mindset of “Wait a minute. Things are better when he’s with me. Why isn’t he with me all the time?” That kind of brings up the first epiphany.

From there, it kind of just stops, because they’re at the Olympics, and Michael is trying to do everything, and he can’t even think about anything like that. But, they’re just hanging out.

And then Michael decides to do the surprise- the second boat ride. Ryan isn’t quite sure; Michael is supposed to have all this press and stuff, and then Michael just kind of talks to his coach and PR and they’re all “oh, no, that’s tomorrow. We changed that. Didn’t you get the memo?”

Ryan isn’t completely a dumbass in situations; he’s kind of goofy and spacey; but he knows he didn’t get the memo- he’s got their notifications coming to his phone, and it’ll wake him up at 2 am if they sent something- or anytime they send anything, he would get a notification and be woken up. So he knows they’re boldfaced lying to him, but he figures there’s a reason, and Michael is Michael, so he can change if he wants to- he’s Mr. 18 gold medals- no, now 20; this is the last Olympics he’s going to be in, so Ryan likes to give him shit and call him Mr. 18 gold medals, even though he has more than 18.

Michael is like “come on, we’re going out” and Ryan is like “what? I thought… what?” Michael is all “seriously, just trust me. We’re going out.”

Ryan is like “what do I wear?”

Michael says, “Jeans and a tee shirt are fine.”

Ryan goes, “Ok. We’re going for casual? You don’t do casual.”

Michael says, “Shut up.” (Michael is known for wearing sweats the minute the minute he gets done with the pool and interviews. He likes the sweatpants and tracksuits.

Michael even gets dressed up- blue jeans, t-shirt.

Ryan gets involved, and Michael is seriously going to smack Ryan later, because he brought the blinged out tee that Michael is seriously going to have to burn.

Ryan hears Michael’s groan and says “Oh, didn’t I tell you I brought the shirt? Oh, and by the way, there’s a hot pink one just like it.”

Michael seriously wants to strangle Ryan at that point.

They get going; Michael takes them around a couple of places, “Oh, yeah, you know, talked with my sister the other day, and there’s this great spaghetti place up here, and it’s pasta, and it’s good for me, and I haven’t had it in forever.” Ryan glares at Michael. “Ok. Fine, two days. But I really want spaghetti.”

They stop at the spaghetti place, and it’s really kind of cool, and not too bad tasting actually; Ryan likes the Alfredo sauce on his spaghetti. He didn’t think it was going to be good, but surprisingly, it was.

They go around, touring the sights; Ryan snaps a lot more pictures; this time Michael makes Ryan take a picture together, and he posts on Instagram “Yeah, this is how we roll on our off day.

Ryan grins and laughs at the comment, because seriously? No one says that anymore.

Michael leads them down to the waterfront; Ryan is starting to put two and two together and get maybe 4, maybe 8? Hell, he doesn’t know at this point- he just knows something is going on. And then, when they get to the boat, he realizes that Michael is taking him on the boat ride again.

Ryan starts laughing, “Really dude? Boat ride? What kind of person do you think I am?” Ryan notices Michael falters a little bit, so he quickly goes to correct himself. “No, no, no. not what I meant.”

Michael is “No, if you don’t like it, we can go somewhere else. It just seems you had fun.”

Ryan says “yes, yes I did. It’s just,” he pauses, because he’s not really sure how to say this, because he’s Michael’s bodyguard, and this could get really awkward and weird if things go wrong, but then again, Ryan isn’t known to hold things back, so he just goes for it. “Dude? Are you like gay?”

This time, it’s Michael who looks off a little bit, and Ryan goes, “No, it’s cool if you are. But, I just kind of wanted to know, because this is something that guys normally take girls on, and in case you missed the memo, I’m not a girl.” And they both share a laugh, because, yes, Michael isn’t that dumb.

They go on, and it turns out that Michael admits that he’s not gay necessarily; it’s just kind of he likes guys more than girls. And, he hasn’t really been with a girl since the last breakup and he kind of doesn’t want to be with a girl. But then again, he kind of doesn’t want to be with a guy either. So, he’s not quite sure where he stands on the issue, but he’s a 50/50 split, well kind of 60/40, with more towards the guys. Ryan laughs, because it makes 100, so who cares.

Michael goes, “But that’s cool if you’re not. Don’t think you have to be just because I am.”

Ryan goes, “You know, I don’t really talk to a lot of people about this stuff, because that’s kind of my private life.” Michael goes, “I totally get it man. I mean, I’m just doing it because you asked me, otherwise I wouldn’t have said anything.” Ryan goes, “Since I’m your bodyguard and all, we should probably know each other pretty well. And it might help out.”

Ryan takes a deep breath, because, well, see thing is, he’s never really come out to anybody before, not even his parents. His mom keeps asking, but he keeps playing it off, saying he’s too busy for a girlfriend, or his assignment was too dangerous- that someone could get hurt, and he doesn’t want to put anyone in that position. So, he goes with the “Uh, I think I might be gay?”

Once he says it, it’s like the weight of the world has been lifted off of his shoulders. He realizes “ _Man I should have said that a long time ago, but I don’t know who I can trust, and I really don’t want that to come back and bite me in the ass._ ” Because, you know, people still look at gay people different, and Ryan doesn’t want to be different from anybody.

Michael is like “cool”, like it’s no big deal. Like Ryan just said, “oh, I stubbed my toe today.” Or just some random thing. Ryan goes, “No, I’ve never really, crap, I don’t know how to say this.”

Michael looks at Ryan, nice, calm and collected, and says “just spit it out dude. We’re two guys. We can handle it.”

Ryan goes “I’ve never dated before”

Michael looks at Ryan. “Really? Never with girls- or guys- in high school or college?”

Ryan goes, “No, I was always too focused on everything. I mean, it was like I knew what I wanted, and people just got in the way. And, especially when I got into college and I got into this internship with the governor of Florida, and stuff. People were just in the way- my own family was in the way sometimes. I just ignored everybody.”

Michael looks at Ryan. The look on his face. Ryan feels bad. Michael looks like someone just kicked a puppy. Ryan is all, “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make you depressed, but, you know, I don’t know.”

Michael goes, “No, it’s cool. You know, I honestly didn’t date a girl until I was in college.” And then Ryan feels a little relieved, because, ok, he’s not the only one who’s struggled with this.

They talk for a bit, just two bros hanging out, and they don’t make a mention of what they talked about. They get back to the village and Ryan is like “Hey, thanks. That was fun, we should like hang out again sometime.” Michael says, “Yeah. That’d be cool, like maybe when the Olympics are done and stuff too, we just like hang out without you being my bodyguard-when all the press and stuff is done. Cause, I hate to say it, but after the first year, it’s all going to kind of wear off, and then you’re only going to be needed for special events and stuff, and I kind of want to stay in touch instead of you just being my bodyguard all the time”.

Ryan again lights up, because, yeah, he’d like that too. “Of course. I’d love that.”

So, they finish the Olympics, and by the time all is said and done, Michael is a 23-time gold medalist, because of course he wins all 5 of his events, and Ryan couldn’t be happier, because it’s awesome.

But, when he gets back to New York when they land, all of a sudden there are missing clothes in his bag, and he’s not quite sure what happened. And there is a t-shirt that is definitely not his in his bag. He looks, and he goes “Michael”. So he calls the only person he can think of. “Michael, do you happen to have my shirt?”

Michael goes, “Oh, that one? No, I told you I was going to burn it.”

Ryan says, “What? You did WHAT?!”

Michael says, “I told you I was going to burn it, because, hello.”

Ryan goes “I am so mad at you right now.”

Michael laughs. “Oh, please. You’ll like me when I get you new clothes.”

Ryan couldn’t argue there. “Ok. Fair enough. But you have to let me have something with rhinestones. Please?”

Michael can’t argue; he’ll give Ryan one item with rhinestones. Fair enough.

They hang out and call each other and just bros.

*

Finish Olympics; Michael now 23-time gold medalist

Went out on top; pretty awesome feeling.

Got to have a good friend (guess he considers Ryan friend at this point) with him; celebrating things with him

Get home and press tour is going to start; Michael looks at Ryan “Uh, you do have another suit, right?”

Ryan answers with “No, actually I don’t.”

Michael goes “Now wait a minute. You were guarding for the governor; don’t you have extra clothes?”

Ryan laughs. “Well, technically that suit was government issued, so when I stopped working for the governor, I had to give it back.”

Michael laughs, because he’s never heard that before, but he could see that because the government, yeah, he’s not going there.

Michael is like “we’re going out shopping and I’m buying you a new suit”

Ryan tries to protest because he does not need Michael buying him clothes, thank you very much, he can do things on his own.

Michael looks at Ryan. “You are going to take the suit I am going to buy you. Do you understand?”

Ryan quits arguing because when Michael Phelps says something, it gets done, regardless of what you think, it’s going to happen.

Ryan gives in, and they go shopping at this really nice suit place, and Ryan does draw the line at letting Michael go in on the suit fittings; he’ll let Michael pick the suit and color combinations and stuff (within reason, because, hello. Ryan is the fashion guru here), but Ryan does draw the line because “we’re friends buddy, but, we’re not that good yet”

Michael respects that and lets Ryan go in by himself.

Michael picks out a nice light gray suit and pairs it with a bright orange, which Ryan was not expecting, but it looks good. Then he realizes, oh, that’ll go great with my black suit that I have. Then Michael goes “you either need a dark blue or a dark gray. Well, go try them both on and see which one you like better.”

Ryan decides to go with the navy blue suit, because it looks just a little bit better, and it’s close to black, and Ryan likes wearing black, so it’s close enough.

Michael picks out a hot pink shirt and teal blue tie that you would think wouldn’t go together, but it looks amazing, and so Ryan can’t fault the guy; maybe he underestimated the guy- the fashion sense is actually there, it just needs a little bit of work.

They pick up suits/ties/etc. Ryan convinces Michael he needs a matching outfit. Decides on hot pink shirt; Ryan gets his way and they get bedazzled cuff links. Michael promised he would let R have one bedazzled thing.

Michael goes, “You know I didn’t really burn your shirts right?”

Ryan is all “Huh?”

Michael goes, “You know, the lime green and hot pink ones I swore I was going to burn? I really didn’t do that.”

Ryan starts figuring things out; he’s missing clothes, and he somehow ended up with one of Michael’s shirts, and he didn’t think much of it. He won’t be the one to admit he’s the total girl here and hangs out with the shirt because it smells like Michael, and it’s really nice. “I know you’re just messing with me. Can I have it back?”

Michael “Nah, I think I’m gonna keep it. It’s cool looking.”

Ryan is all “Really?”

Michael laughs. “Nah, I’m just kidding. I’ll bring it back to you after this whole press thing.”

They start the press tour; Ryan thought Michael was kidding about the amount of press and crap they were going to do, but Ryan just needs like a Monster energy drink and a coffee just to get up in the morning, and he needs another one midway through his day, and another right before bed, and he can still fall asleep 5 minutes after that because he is just exhausted. He got to go on the Today show, and he really liked Al Roker, because he was funny. Ryan hates weathermen because they’re wrong 95% of the time, but Al is a funny guy.

Then they do all of the late night talk shows. Ryan is kinda bummed, because his favorite, Craig Ferguson is no longer doing talk shows, so he is kind of bummed because he wanted to meet Secretariat and Geoffrey the Skeleton, but he gets to realize, “Eh. Oh well.” And he gets to hang out with Jimmy Fallon, who, the guy is pretty cool and knowledgeable- even if he is a Red Sox fan.

They finish up the New York press tour that week; things get crazy when they go to LA and do it all over again. Ryan is really dragging by this point; he’s pretty sure he has the number for Starbucks speed dialed on his phone, because he seems to be going there every twenty minutes just to function, but he knows it will end soon, because, eventually, it’s going to end right?

After about a month or so, it finally ends. Michael is like, “Hey. You should like totally come to New York and hang out.”

Ryan is like “Dude, we’ve hung out in New York.”

Michael thinks. He totally meant to say Baltimore there, and he goes “I meant Baltimore. You should come see where I’m from.”

Ryan goes “Really?”

Michael says, “Yeah, I’ve got some charity events, and you should totally come as my bodyguard, since that’s how you roll.”

Ryan laughs; seriously, dude, no one says that anymore, but he agrees. It would be nice to see Baltimore; it would be nice to know what to tease Michael about/give him more shit for, but he’ll take what he can.”

Ryan is going to have to make Michael come down to Gainesville “G-spot” because it is totally the better place and a lot warmer; he would take the 75 degrees with 90% humidity of Florida over the 100 degree heat they just suffered through in LA, because that shit was fucking miserable.

Ryan agrees “Ok. Yeah, sure, I’ll come up to Baltimore.”

Michael says, “Cool. Oh, before we go, kinda better home and see the puppies because they’re probably mad that I left them at home for two weeks.”

Ryan stares at Michael. “You have dogs? You never told me that.”

Michael looks. “Oh, didn’t I?” and he’s grinning, because he knows he didn’t tell Ryan that. “Oh, you like dogs?”

Ryan laughs. “Yeah, I have two of my own, and my mom’s probably mad since I haven’t seen them since I left, and they probably miss me too.”

Michael just laughs at Ryan. They are like total matches here.

Michael says “Oh, just be forewarned; they don’t like anybody. They tried to bite the last guy who was my bodyguard. Just a heads up.”

Ryan goes “Oh, we’ll see about that.”

They go their separate ways; Ryan goes home to Florida and hangs out with his puppies because he missed them. He’s missed his dog who seems to think he’s a human child, barreling into him and sitting in his lap.

Ryan goes up to Baltimore. He hates flying; he’ll never admit it, but it sucks.

He decides to fly up to Baltimore and he goes and knocks on Michael’s door, because he’s been texting Michael since the plane landed and he got the cab, and Michael goes “Well, I was kind of waiting for you at the gate, but you like totally ignored me, so you can like wait a few minutes.”

Then Ryan feels like a total idiot; he should have realized Michael was going to be there, because Michael is always there, and so he knows he deserves the glare Michael gives him when he pulls in (Michael was at least nice enough to give Ryan his address, but yeah…)

Ryan “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you were going to come get me and I should have thought about it, and I’m really sorry.”

Michael laughs “Dude it’s ok. I should have told you the minute you booked the ticket that I was gonna be. Don’t worry about it.”

They get inside, and Michael says, “Ok, don’t be alarmed.” Cause he can hear the dogs running; he expects dog #1 to bite Ryan on the ankle. But, he barrels towards Ryan and Ryan, for his part, just lets the dog bowl him over and lick his face. Ryan’s finally all “stop, stop”

Michael is “sorry, he like never does that to anybody.”

Ryan goes “Nah, it’s cool. He just knows who a dog person is.” And then the dog treats fall out of his pocket, which blows his cover, but it’s all good. They share a laugh.

Dog #2 is shier at first; once she realizes Ryan isn’t hurting Michael and they’re not arguing, but just hanging out, she comes over and accepts a dog treat and sits down by Ryan.

They hang out and play some Xbox and Madden, because, they’re bros and that’s what they do. Michael goes, “I want to take you out for dinner tonight. I know we had spaghetti in Italy, but there’s this place that my sister says has really good spaghetti. But if you don’t like spaghetti or pasta, that’s ok. We can do something else.”

Ryan looks at Michael. “I’ll eat anything at this point. Airline food sucks.”

Michael can’t help but laugh; Ryan has a point there.

It goes on from there; they go out to eat. Ryan gets spaghetti sauce instead of Alfredo sauce; it’s not as good, but nothing would be as good as when they were in Italy.

They have fun; go out; Michael gives Ryan quick tour

Ryan crashes in guest bedroom. He’s like “ok this is fun. Michael is relaxed and cool, and this is neat to see him in his own turf.” Ryan starts setting the plans in motion to get Michael down to GSpot

Michael has this charity event; Ryan was not informed swimming was involved and he had to swim; he’s a little upset at Michael at first- Michael knows the history and why Ryan quit swimming; dude should be able to respect that. Ryan gives in; he kind of missed swimming- not the practices and the amount of food he had to eat to stay going, he kind of missed it because it was fun, so he agrees. He lets Michael talk him into it. Ryan had just happened to pack a pair of swim trunks; when his mom told him to pack them, he didn’t think much of it, she’s his mom and she knows what she’s talking about, so he just followed her advice. Apparently she figured Michael would have a pool and they would hang out.

They get into the banquet thing, and Michael goes, “Ok, it’s you and me.”

Ryan goes “really man? Come on, you’re going to beat me by like 15 seconds. I haven’t swam in forever.”

Michael laughs. “You’ll get used to it. It’s all good”

Ryan hops in and does a couple practice laps; he’s surprised by how much he remembers of it. He wasn’t a grand star by any stretch; he had a couple moves here and there. So, he decides, “Alright, let’s do this.”

Ryan and Michael dive off the blocks and get going; Michael beats Ryan by about a second and a half, but it’s all fun, so there’s nothing wrong with that.

Michael challenges people for a period of time, and then they get to the actual food portion of the banquet; because that was just the warm-up; now it’s time for speeches and all that. Michael isn’t known for the most eloquent speeches, so Ryan is a little scared and hopes Michael has a speech writer. Then Michael gets up to speak and it’s like “Ok, don’t think you wrote that, but we’ll go with it.”

Michael is giving his speech, and then he stops; Ryan realizes he is going off the script, and he’s really nervous at this point; when you don’t follow the script, bad things happen generally. Good things can happen, but mostly bad things happen. Ryan gets concerned at this point.

Michael starts speaking, and Ryan is taken aback, because, _wait, is he talking about me_? And then he really listens, and yeah, Michael is talking about how he has a new bodyguard who’s reminded him to take things easy and that was really helpful during the Olympics, la la la. Ryan suddenly is aware of all the attention that is on him, and he’s not completely comfortable with that; he’s a little “Uh, ok?” Michael is all “You got it. You’re fine.” Then Michael calls Ryan up to make a speech of his own, and Ryan is all “Hell no”, but he gives in because it’s Michael, and he’s the bodyguard, and he’s supposed to give a speech and all this, so he makes his way up there.

He just gives a couple witty one liners, says it’s been great to work with Michael, blah blah blah. And Michael kind of lights up in the corner- Ryan can see it from the corner of his eye, so he calls it a win.

*

Digression summary: First, I said Ryan knew nothing about swimming, but then you find out later he was a swimmer, but in order to fix that: he was just a swimmer as a little kid, but not competitive- everyone kept telling him he couldn’t do it, couldn’t do it, and he started believing them for a while, and then he actually tried it once, when he was like 10, and he didn’t do well, and he kinda blocked it out, because he wasn’t going to be embarrassed in front of everyone all the time, so he gives it up and that point, and that is that.

The suit: technically, that’s the one Ryan buys for Michael, but let’s go with the one suit Ryan has is black, so he ends up buying the same green shirt and tie as Michael- makes it easier.

*

Press tour in NY and LA, and they’re back. Went to visit each other- actually, I guess Ryan had just went to visit Michael. Ryan lands in Baltimore; Michael shows him around, all that. Then Ryan goes home, because he’s going to go home and see his brother, and he hasn’t seen his brother in like forever, cause his brother has been in school, and he just wants to go see his family; he needs a break. Not that he doesn’t like Michael; he just has spent most of his time with him for the last month and a half, and has kind of ignored everyone else, and he’s a really big mama’s boy, so that’s hard for him.

Ryan is all “sorry man, I’ll come back if you need me, but I wanna go home for a little bit, cause I kinda miss my family”. Michael is like “no, it’s cool, I got you. No worries.”

Ryan goes home to Gainesville, and he’s just hanging out. First day back, gets his mom’s famous lasagna, and she kinda asks about Michael, and Ryan is like “Dude, he’s kinda like my boss, or you know, there’s nothing going on there, I’d tell you if there was”. She shakes her head knowingly, because she has figured out he’s kind of got a crush, and he’s not talking about his love life to his mother right now, thank you very much.

His dogs are like “Yes! You’re home, you’re home.” Refuse to leave his side. He now has a new lap dog, and so, he spends the day hanging out, couple days. Then phone rings. Is Michael, there’s some thing he needs a bodyguard for, so Ryan packs up and comes up, and then when he gets there, Michael is like “So, we’re headed back to Gainesville.” Ryan is like “What?”

Michael says, “Yeah, you said you’re gonna take me there, and I’ve taken you to Baltimore, so…”

Ryan is “Ok, yeah, sure, just let me tell my mom we’re coming, cause she wasn’t expecting company.”

Michael laughs “She’ll love me” Ryan can’t argue there.

They make it down there, and of course Ryan’s family loves Michael. They realize as things go along that this is 23-time gold medalist Michael, not just “Michael” because Ryan has only called him “Michael”. I mean, the family kinda knew, but to actually meet the guy is kinda cool.

Ryan takes Michael around/shows him the sights; Carter falls in love with Michael (no dog treats needed this time- Carter is just that kind of dog).

Kinda falls into pattern of living separately; not a lot to do except for the charity event here and there; and then Michael is like, “I still feel like every time I leave, there’s a piece missing, so maybe I should invite him up for dinner, like take him out on a date”. Not sure how it’s gonna work out, but he’s willing to give it shot. He’s not a famous athlete really anymore, um, because that’s all died down. It could go south, and really, he could always get another bodyguard. Besides, he really likes Ryan. If it goes to crap, he can always get a new bodyguard.

They’ve been texting and calling/talking to each other. Michael is like “hey, come up” Ryan is like “do we have an event?” Michael says “No, just want to see you, hang out, and be bros for a while.” Ryan automatically agrees; he doesn’t have many friends, and this is the most he’s hung out with someone in a long time, and he likes enjoys the time together. Not sure what this is (kind of dense in that aspect), but he knows, you know, kinda the dating scene and everything, he’s tried Tinder, and nah, not really. He’s never really been one to do dating things. Ryan thinks “Ok, is he asking me out?” But Ryan shakes it off, because two guys can be friends and not try to date each other.

Ryan hops on a plane; Michael comes and gets him from the airport (this time Ryan remembers to text first); talking. Ryan realizes how much he’s missed these easy conversations; on the phone, it seems like they’re a million miles apart, even though it’s only like 3-4 states. But, you know, he likes the in-person conversations better, because, you know, he can see how Michael’s face lights up when he talks about teaching a little kid to swim, or you know, how he groans when he talks about the practices that he used to have to do, and rolls his eyes.

And yeah, it’s a good thing, but “I don’t want to move to Baltimore. I mean, I’m a Florida kid, and yeah, not gonna do well in the winters there.” So he stops centering on that, because, yeah, it’s way too early to be thinking about that.” Moving closer, yeah, but not to where Michael is, because he’s not sure what’s going to happen at the end of the year, when it’s just charity events. I mean, it’s kind of headed that way now, and it seems like they’re staying in good contact, but not really sure. And so, Michael gets them home in one piece, even though it’s testy for a few minutes with all the idiots on the road, and chalk another one up to not moving to Maryland.

They get there, and Michael is like “You must be tired. Here, let’s eat. I’ve got pizza and wings”. Ryan takes a step back for a second, because it’s Friday. It’s like his tradition, and he doesn’t think he told Michael about that; he might of, because he doesn’t remember all that they’ve talked about, but, he doesn’t ever really remember ever saying that Friday is pizza and wings night, but he can do it.

Michael is all “Uh, or we can go out and get something else.”

Ryan is like “No, no, it’s cool. It’s just like my tradition, and I don’t remember ever telling you that.”

Michael goes, “No, you never have. That was just pure luck”

Ryan is a happy camper because, pizza and wings, and beer. Can’t go wrong there.

Next day, Michael lets Ryan sleep in; finally, it’s like 10, and Michael is going stir crazy in the house, he’s still trying to get used to retirement and the idea of sleeping in, so Michael is still up at 5:30 making breakfast, but then he realizes “I don’t have to make breakfast that soon anymore”, but he still does.

He eats, he waits, and when Ryan isn’t up at 10, Michael goes in there. “God dammit, Ryan, get your ass up so we can go do something.”

“Ugmh.” Ryan squawks out. “Let me sleep.”

“Oh no you don’t. Come on. I got breakfast cooking.” At that, Ryan perks up because, food. Yes food sounds good now.

He comes down and eats, which is pretty good, and then as they’re sitting there, Michael is like “So what do you want to do today?”

Ryan says, “I don’t know. It’s the weekend. What’s there to do? I’m not from here; you’re supposed to be mister touristy person in this city.” Michael laughs, because Ryan has a point there.

“Let’s go to the aquarium. That’s like my favorite place, and there’s lots of animals there.” Ryan laughs and rolls his eyes. “Dude, do you ever do anything not water related?”

“Yeah, plenty of times” Michael says. “But today’s not one of them”

Ryan laughs. Ok fair enough.

They go to the aquarium, spend the whole day there. Ryan enjoys hanging out with the sharks, that was kinda cool. Sharks are probably his favorite. The underwater exhibit thing, Ryan has a minute of claustrophobia- he didn’t realize he was going to, but all of sudden realizing that all that’s holding you back from all these sharks and fish and everything that’s all around them and all the water surrounding them is a glass plate between them; he kind of freaks out a little bit. But Michael is right there, and they make it through there, and Ryan is like “Oh my gosh, I am like so sorry for freaking out.”

Michael laughs, “It happens a lot. I did it the first couple of times too. So, no worries dude. It’s normal. Besides, I mean, yeah, I really don’t want you gettin eaten by a shark either.”

“Ah, fuck off.” Ryan says, but he laughs.

Michael says, “Come on, let’s go home. Let’s change; I have some plans for tonight,” Ryan goes, “Oh, ok, I know where to find food and all that.” Michael is like “Oh, no, dude. Sorry. I meant WE have plans for tonight.”

Ryan goes “Oh.”

Michael says “Not used to using ‘we’re’ since I’ve only ever been alone” Ryan goes “I know the feeling” but then Michael’s words sink in. “Uh, Michael, did you just say what I think you said?”

Michael thinks back to what he said. “I mean, it’s just, you’re used to being alone, and then someone is hanging out with you, and you’re not used to hanging out frequently”. Michael stops. “I’m gonna stop while I’m behind, because there’s no way I’m going to be able to explain this.”

They laugh. Ryan says “Ok, I know what you’re saying.”

Michael is like “You brought your suit, right?”

“Yeah, I’m still trying to figure out why we need a suit though.”

Michael is like “Oh, you’ll see.” Ryan thinks “ _Uh oh_.”

They both happened to wear the black suit with the lime green shirt and black tie, and it’s just funny because of the things, it was just that.

They go out to a fancy restaurant, and that’s when Ryan puts two and two together and figures out this is like a date, and he’s actually ok with that, because they’re both not very sharp on the uptake usually. The fact that they’re figuring it out and the same time is kind of funny. Ryan is like “Ok. Sure, and dude, really? You’re taking me out to sushi.”

Michael is like “Yeah?”

Ryan says “you know me way too well”

Michael goes, like “yeah, I’m supposed to know you because you’re my bodyguard, and you know, we spend a lot of time together.”

Ryan goes “Yeah, true point”

Michael doesn’t say that he’s called and talked to Ryan’s mom, who kind of gave him some pointers, because, she’s like awesome and then “it’s like all he talks about and everything, so, it’s kind of funny.”

*

At dinner, going well. Never got to do it before, so actually pretty cool to just hang out; first time they’ve done this, and all of sudden, it’s like “OMG what time is it?”, and it’s been 4-5 hours. They’re like “wow, a long time, but I really don’t want this night to end”, and that’s what Ryan says, Michael agrees. They go to one of the bars there, and it’s about 9 at this time, and the next thing they know it’s last call, and neither one can really drive, so they leave Michael’s car; were gonna walk, but then decide to call a cab. They share a cab; it’s probably easier that way.

They both get back, go to respective rooms and pass out, and don’t see each other until the next morning, grumbling/mumbling, cursing each other out because they really don’t feel that great. Then they said, “That was fun at least”

Ryan has to go back; brother or sister (who knows) has a big event, and Ryan goes and Michael comes with him, because he wants the tour now, and he wants to go hang out at one of Ryan’s fave places.

Friday night, so it’s pizza and wings night; that’s what Michael wants right now- are really good. Have fun, and end up and hit up a couple of the night spots, and Ryan takes Michael to fave sushi place- everyone loves sushi, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Michael has charity event, and Ryan comes along as bodyguard, all that, and then things hit a lull. Michael isn’t sure how to come out and say he wants to date Ryan because he knows Ryan hasn’t dated before, and Michael hasn’t done dating thing either because he’s always been so busy, and he decides we can do what we did last time and take it nice and slow, and one time go here and then go there. Ryan brings up the subject “Dude, if you just want to date me, why don’t you say something. I’m ok with that idea.”

Michael: “But. Work. Schedules. Uh. Er.”

Ryan “I work for you. I’m pretty sure we can make something work.”

Michael has to laugh. Ryan has a point- Michael is the boss. He can say the schedules and stuff. Michael gives in.

Ryan says “Well, I really don’t want to move to Baltimore dude. Sorry, but, I’m a warm weather guy in the winter, and I’d freeze.” Michael is like “I don’t want to move to Gainesville cause it’s too hot.”

Compromise- keep own houses, but they find a middle point, which happens to be North Carolina. They end up there- hilarious- not place you’d expect a swimmer to be, but there’s a nice pool there, and training center. First day, Ryan goes to look at house that they’ve picked online. Thinks “ok, let’s see how I can get around the city”. Goes out to get food- gets lost- wishes he had plugged address into GPS, because before he knows it, he’s on the interstate and on the way to South Carolina. Michael doesn’t let Ryan live it down- that was too funny.

Afterwards, buy house. Takes things that each of them wants, go take on NC basically. Michael gets back in with swimming; Ryan has the degree- can go get a job, but doesn’t want to- likes being just Michael’s bodyguard, and doesn’t want anyone else. Really, Michael doesn’t need bodyguard anymore, but Ryan isn’t sure he wants to leave and bodyguard anyone else, because this is his whole fear of not wanting to put people at risk. Michael is person protecting; makes sense to hang out all the time. Makes sense, because you’re protecting the person.

The more Ryan thinks about it, the more he thinks this is what he’s been wanting all along.

They have the big deep discussion and they take things really slow, because neither one knows how it’s supposed to go- long time for Michael and Ryan has never dated, so trying to figure out logistics is funny. Making it work, being cheesy bros. Been fun.

Ryan wants more- not date every week, and he knows all he has to do is ask and Michael will give it to him, but he’s not quite sure how to come out and ask; he’s never dated anybody. Does he come right out and say it, or does he wait or what?

He decides to blurt it out (because that’s how he is and how he does things). Michael says “Ok, yeah, we can go on some more dates here and there”, and weekly then biweekly.

Easy things- dinner or movie, night in, making pizza (which leads to fire dept calls- forgot about the oven, so they set the pizza on fire). They don’t burn house down though at least!

Dreaded portion- Ryan has never thought about; not sure how to bring up to Michael. But, Michael seems to sense things. “Dude, we don’t have to for a long time if you don’t want to.”

Never bring up word- awkward.

Ryan will sneak off- sharing room because dating, or he’ll wait until Michael goes to swimming- Michael still swims all the time (Ryan doesn’t get the guy- that’s his deal); Michael has his swimming; Ryan has the designing clothes.

Ryan looks stuff up; no, uh yeah, no can’t do that. Making out, but no more than that.

Michael walks in on Ryan once; Ryan tries to slam laptop shut, misses, slams finger instead, curses, tries to open laptop, bring up screen, shuts lid, slams finger again. Michael is pretty much rolling on floor with laughter. Ryan smacks Michael upside the head. “If you’re just gonna laugh, get out of here.”

But again, Michael reiterates don’t have to do anything until Ryan is ready, and if Ryan is never ready, that’s fine too.

Ryan wants to believe him, really does. Michael is gonna want something eventually; maybe Ryan isn’t the best person. Ryan comes to conclusion to tell Michael up front and be honest. Taken aback by Michael’s response, figured Michael would be “Ok. Yeah, sure, whatever.” But Michael is all. “No, seriously, let’s talk about this. I mean, what’s the problem?” Decent adult conversation; could have avoided the issue itself, but they don’t.

Michael goes. “Seriously. Man, it’s ok.” Ryan is like “No, it’s not. It’s a relationship and” Ryan stops because he doesn’t know what else to say. “It’s like. In relationship, people do that.” Michael goes “not all relationships.”

Ryan goes. “Ok. Yeah, but I know you’re gonna want.”

Michael says “Ryan, stop it. It’s OK.” Finally, because Ryan gets it through his head that Michael is ok with it, he stops- for now. Always nagging at the back of his mind. Comes to the point. “Maybe there’s something wrong with me. “

Michael goes “No, that’s normal man. Some people just don’t like that”.

Ryan goes “But why not? There’s got to be something wrong with me.”

Michael laughs. “Nothing wrong with you dude. Seriously, look it up on the internet. You’re not the only one who’s had this issue before.”

Ryan really knows he shouldn’t; will psyche himself out and freak himself out. He does, because Michael probably knows what he’s talking about here. And, yeah, there are actually a lot of people who are like that. Ryan feels relieved that he’s not the only one going through this. But at the same time, he’s still… he wants to be there and do stuff, but he’s not sure how.

He doesn’t realize he spoke the last words out loud because he usually has this great head canon idea stuff, and it stays up there, but apparently his brain to mouth filter gets broken occasionally, generally Michael is around when it happens. Ryan is like “Ok, don’t say it.”

Michael looks at Ryan. “Well, you know, we could go to counseling if you want to.” Ryan looks shocked- counseling? They’re not married; they don’t have problems. And then Ryan stops. “Ok, yeah, this could be considered a problem.” He looks at Michael. “Yeah, well, if you’re ok with that.”

Michael goes, “Yeah, and besides, my mom would probably hate us if we didn’t go to counseling first, because she is all ‘you need to know each other first and not rush into things’, and you know, counseling helps us deal with things better.”

Ryan agrees; his parents went through a rough patch and they went to counseling, and they ended up better, so ok, yeah, he can do that.

Michael decides to looks at counseling options and then talk to Ryan before scheduling an appointment, because they both need to be comfortable with the person. Ryan trusts Michael, so he lets him do it.

Goes to walk the dogs; not out all day. Staring and glaring at him at this point. He figures he better take them out before they get really mad at him.

When he comes back, Michael has a pro and con list; Ryan wants to laugh (overachiever much?), but he’s grateful, they can both look together and pick the right one and be at the same level of awkwardness when they go in, instead of one being more prepared.

Agree and set up appointment. Go to bed; Ryan can’t sleep. Tosses and turns, still thinks something is wrong. Ryan’s tossing and turning keeps Michael awake, which makes Michael grumpy. But he’s like “Ryan, just go to sleep man. We’ve got this covered. We’re gonna work on it. Just quit tossing and turning. You’re waking me up.”

Ryan realizes he’s not going to be able to sleep; brain is going a million miles an hour, so he gets up. Tells Michael to go back to sleep, that he’s fine. Just let him process this; Michael gives in. By the time Ryan shuts the bedroom door, Michael has flopped back over and is snoring. Ryan laughs- dude how can you fall asleep that fast?

Ryan goes and sits on the couch; grabs laptop, does some more research. “Ok. There’s nothing wrong with me. But at the same time, I just feel, you know.”

Next thing he knows, Michael is coming downstairs, and it’s like 6 AM. Then Ryan realizes how tired he is. He lies down on the couch for half a second, just to catch his bearings and relax as Michael makes coffee. Next thing he knows, Michael is poking him saying breakfast is ready, and Ryan looks and it’s been an hour “Oops”

Michael asks, “Did you sleep at all?”

“No, not really.”

“Ryan!”

“Sorry.”

Michael laughs. “I know. I get that way sometimes too. But we’re gonna figure it out. Take your time. Take a deep breathe. Things are going to be fine.” And when Michael says it like that, Ryan actually believes him.

*

Information: Fleshing out

Why Ryan quit swimming. He wasn’t big swimmer; played around as a kid; 5 or 6 watched Olympics (parents like Summer Olympics), and like 80’s (88 I think- summer one). Pick a swimmer- that becomes hero for time (Matt Biondi). He decides to do swimming. First time he gets in pool, has a freak out, and he can swim and play around. When it comes to lessons, doesn’t do very well, cause he’s constricted; doesn’t like that (gets over that). Goes from there. Does some racing; never really good, because everyone else has had more practice. Always thinks, “Oh I can keep going. I can do this.” Age 10 or so, and he does a race, doesn’t finish poorly- finishes 4th, which is good, but not good enough to place, but there’s this mean kid, says nasty stuff. Ryan is always one to listen to what others say, so hearing the “I can’t do this”/ “you can’t do this, you’re not good enough”- he’s heard it for last 2 years, but he’s pushed it out, but the more he’s heard it, the more he’s started to believe it, and then this kid, (not sure how- have to make it bad). Whatever the kid says though, it makes Ryan say “I’m done.” Not going to put up with that/don’t deserve to be treated like that, just because I’m not as good as the others doesn’t mean I can’t swim, but maybe competitive swimming isn’t for me. Maybe I’ll just do it on my own time.” He tells parents, who support decision (they try to talk him out at first), has one more meet to finish out the year, and this time, his parents are there when kid says something, they’re ok with him quitting/they talk to the other kids’ parents. Yeah, you deserve to be happy, and if you’re not happy doing it, why are you doing it? Don’t do it just because we want you to do it.

The event- brother or sister. Make it sis has baby. He gets to go home and see his new niece or nephew. He’s gonna be there for that- he’s all for family, and he loves cute little babies.

Ryan doesn’t have friends. Not quite sure how to work that in; awkward as a kid. First with swimming, and then high school. Doesn’t fit in; not popular kid or jock; not nerdy or smart kid (in reality- HS was probably big enough, but using my HS for basis here). You were nerdy or popular or sporty. Not any of them. Loner, hangs out with 1 friend, but after HS, they go separate ways- Ryan to college; friend whatever, and they lose touch. Ryan never lets himself get close to people, because bodyguard. No potential for people to get hurt if something goes wrong. So he pushes everyone away. Except family, but family is supposed to like you.

Michael is opposite-sporty and lots of friends. Sometimes makes Ryan jealous, but he deals with it.

Food misdirection- this is based on true events (sort of- embellished a little). Michael won’t let him live it down. Ryan usually says shut up or flips Michael off. Uses GPS now.

Fire dept calls. First time they move into house, they don’t realize how hot oven gets. Put in pizza, and getting dishes out/went outside, whatever, and then the oven is smoking, and big fireball. Turns off oven. Smoke sets off smoke alarm and rolls out windows (thick black smoke), so fire dept comes to check it out (neighbor calls out of concern). Second time, they were “distracted” when they put pizza, and forgot about it. More embarrassed this time- could have been prevented if they had kept their hands off each other another 10 minutes, but it’s all good.

Ryan wondering why something is wrong with him. Sees relationships (brother and girlfriend; parents, sister and husband), everyone is happy and not afraid to show affection. Ryan is not like that; shows affection. Idea scares him, and he’s thinking he’s like the only person that feels this way. Michael slings arm over Ryan all the time; the first couple times, Ryan tenses up, not because he doesn’t like it, but it’s just weird feeling. He’s grown up around people who have done it all the time, but to him, it’s a weird idea. Getting used to it, but then the whole sex idea comes up, and Ryan is like “no.” because that doesn’t even sound like something he wants to do, and that’s when the doubt really starts to creep into his head that something is wrong, because, isn’t every person supposed to like that? Then he has freak-out, and Michael talks to him and convinces Ryan that he’s not the only one who feels this way. Ryan is hesitant to believe Michael; everyone else he’s ever seen is into that kind of stuff. Ryan convinced he is the only one who feels that way. After the internet search and he realizes he’s not, he feels a little more comfortable, but at the same time. Nagging doubt still there that something is wrong. Going to counselor helps; she helps him understand why he’s feeling why he’s feeling. Great thing to have- he can understand that he’s not the only one, lots of people have this feeling, and it’s a normal feeling, and there’s some different ways I can handle this and work on it not bothering me as much. He’s not going to promise he can do anything at this point, but he’s going to work on it, which is all that matters at this point.

*

Ryan actually has to be bodyguard; up to this point has been cool, calm, collected; you’re just here if I need you, you were just here in case something happened, so far people have been good. People are being assholes, and Michael doesn’t quite fear for his life, but he’s really glad Ryan is there, and they get the hell out of there, it’s not a good situation.

Post-Olympics; Michael has some charity event he’s doing, and it was going good, in pool and doing fine. One person comes up to Michael and won’t quit nagging him; Michael is getting pissed off. Michael tells guy to leave him alone; guy won’t listen, and so Michael tries avoiding guy; guy keeps following him, and finally Michael is like “Ryan, I need your help”. Ryan is mad at Michael at first because Michael should tell Ryan stuff first before it gets to this point, because Ryan is all “hey man is it going ok? Do you need anything?” Michael is like “I’m fine. I got it.” Now it’s Michael panicking and “I need help, I need help. This guy won’t leave me alone.” Ryan is mad; Michael is a dork in that aspect, but Ryan helps out (that is what the bodyguard does), and he takes care of the situation. Not saying it’s easy situation. Guy won’t listen to Ryan either, and there gets to be police involvement and threats of arrest; it’s just not good situation all the way around.

Ryan knew it was going to happen eventually, but he is still is like “Do we really have to go through this, like, I really don’t want to do that unless I have to.” Michael is like, “I know, but like, dude, when I was in Beijing, like oh my god. You wouldn’t have wanted to be my bodyguard.” Ryan laughs, because, uh, no. He remembers that one- it was all about Michael, and following him, and he doesn’t press for more details/Michael is not forthcoming with them, so they’re going to leave it as is.

Ryan is like "at least next time, tell me that there’s someone doing something or following you because I can have a better eye on things. That dude wasn’t even on my radar, and you know, you gotta tell me these things. You gotta trust me.”

Michael “I do. It’s just. I thought I could handle it.”

Ryan looks at Michael. Silly Michael. “Michael, that’s why I’m here. My job is to protect you. If you have any concerns or questions, you are supposed to talk to me. Ok?”

Michael gives in; Ryan has a point, and it is kinda nice to be taken care of, so. “Ok. Fine. You win.”

Ryan grins. Of course he’s going to win this deal.

Rest of event continues without a hitch; that guy never shows up again; Ryan is unsure if they actually went through with the threat to throw him in jail or not- the police; because at that point, Ryan was like “ok, you guys got this; I’m out”, but you know, it is what is it; it’s a part of the job.

They get going; it’s nice and calm, relaxed again.

They’re at some other event; Ryan lets his guard down again because everybody’s being great. This time he’s watching everybody. Lets his guard down “everything’s going fine”. Then he turns his back for like 2 minutes to talk to Bowman, and when he turns around, Michael is gone. Ryan automatically goes into panic mode because, oh fuck, where’d he go?”

He starts searching everywhere (they’re in a small place), Michael couldn’t have ran off or been in the bathroom. Only one set of bathrooms in the place. It’s small, like a gym, and then you’ve got the pool, and they weren’t doing a swimming-related thing. This was a talk.

When Ryan can’t find Michael, he really starts to panic, because “oh, crap”. He starts searching high and low. Can’t find Michael, but Michael’s car is still there. Then Ryan realizes, “well, wait a minute, I drove him. I have the keys. He couldn’t have gone anywhere.” Michael is nowhere to be found.

Ryan finally goes “Oh shit.” He calls cops; he’s gonna get the jump on this. Not going to have kidnapping story hit the press. That wouldn’t be good. It’s going to hit anyway, but Ryan would like to pretend he has everything under control first, before it hits.

He’s got it going; he gives them a rundown of everything, who’s been involved in the event so far, who’s been where, what info he knows. No one stood out as the type who would just be that kind of person.

Everyone had clean records (this time, Ryan checked), and Ryan took this very seriously this time; he did the background checks, he did the stalking (in a sense) of the people so he knew who he was dealing with. And then this happens.

At first, the thought vaguely crosses Ryan’s mind that this is Michael’s joke. “Hey, even though you did all this work, things can still happen.” That thought quickly gets thrown out; Michael might joke about a lot of things, but his safety isn’t one of them. So Ryan knows we have a serious problem.

Ryan starts retracing steps; he tries calling Michael’s cell phone, it’s off. The GPS isn’t pinging. Trying to figure out what to do. Cops are “Well, can’t do a lot of stuff. Don’t have a lot of information.” Ryan is in a pickle here, and Michael is still nowhere to be found.

Ryan has a brilliant idea; asks if the place has security cameras. Which, by a pure stroke of luck, they do. And, miraculously, there was one in the gym, where they were at. The police are able to get footage. They watch it.

It is a little girl who leads Michael off. Ryan is confused. He knows kids are Michael’s downfall; always have been, always will be. Whoever did this knew that. They played into Michael’s weaknesses. They try to figure out who it is. Then they realize, wait a minute, she leads him out the door.

There’s a camera in the parking lot (thankfully). Gets the license plate on the car. Of course, runs plate; it’s been stolen. Doesn’t help a lot, but they at least know what car to look for at this point, and then Ryan starts looking. There’s got to be some connection.

Ryan racks brain; who had a grudge, didn’t like him- sure, Michael has made many enemies over the years, but none seem like the type that would kidnap him. Ryan is back to square one. He’s tired, frustrated; he hasn’t slept since this whole thing started, and it’s going on day 2. Coffee and energy drinks aren’t doing anything. His attitude is shit, he’s short with everybody. He knows he should feel bad, but this is Michael we’re talking about. A: it’s his client; B: he really cares about Michael. This is kinda concerning. He’s like “man, really…”

Then the thought crosses his mind “No one’s gonna wanna hire me after this, because I let my client get kidnapped, that’s not good”. R is under a lot of stress.

Phone rings in middle of night, after Ryan has FINALLY gotten to sleep; he is so mad. He looks at the screen and sees Michael’s name; his senses immediately kick in, and he wakes right up. “Hello?”

Michael’s voice is barely above a whisper; Ryan has trouble hearing him at first. Michael is like “Ryan, dude.”

Ryan is like “yes?” silence, then Ryan goes “can you talk?”

“Sort of.”

“Give me yes or no answers.”

“Yes” Michael says

Ryan asks “do you know who did this?”

“Yes”. Michael gives 2 initials; it all clicks into place for Ryan at that moment. I.T.

Ryan realizes, wait, how in the hell did Ian Thorpe get involved in this? Ryan figures he’ll figure that out in the morning, because he’s too tired. “Ok. Are you safe?”

“Yes”

“Are you being taken care of?”

“Yes”

“Do you know where you are?”

“No”

Ok. “Do you think you’re still in the city?”

“I don’t know.”

“Ok. Is there one person with you?”

“Yes”

“Are there two people with you?”

“Yes”

“Are there three people with you?”

“No”

“Ok. Michael, we can work on this, ok?”

“Yes”

Ryan stops. “Get onto your phone. Hit your map button.”

Michael goes, “I have no internet”

“Ok.” Ryan says. “That’s a good thing.”

“What?”

“There’s very few places that don’t have internet. Is your mobile data working?”

“They disabled it.” Tries to turn it on. “I have internet now.”

Cool.

Has Michael send Ryan coordinates; Ryan is kinda smart on that; he knows how to do that.

Ryan goes ok. “Give me an hour to wake up. Because, you woke me up, and I haven’t been to sleep in like 2 days, trying to figure out what’s going on. Give me an hour, and we’re coming to get you man.”

“Yes, yes”

Ryan starts waking up. Gives cops a call “hey, I got some info”

Cops go, how does this happen? Ryan goes, “he called me.”

Cops say, “What?”

“Yeah, he called me and we were talking, and um, guys, I think I know where he might be.”

“Well, let’s take it slow, but let’s look into this.”

*

Ryan has figured it out, where Michael is at because he’s a genius and had M use cell phone’s GPS to triangulate where he’s at. Ryan has talked to cops, setting up a plan.

Trying to figure out why Ian would want to kidnap Michael; knows he won’t figure it out because Ian is fucking weird; probably has Ian Crocker involved to, who is probably the second person, Ryan is like, “ok, you know what, um, we’ll take this as it goes.”

Ryan tells cops “I want to help, I want to help” and they say, “no, you can’t.” Ryan says, “Yes, I can. I’m the bodyguard here.” Reluctantly cops give in; put Ryan in minute role in a sense; Ryan is just there watching to make sure no one escapes or anything, but they rescue Michael (they always do). Bring him out; ambulance on scene. Ryan isn’t sure why; he’s not expecting Michael to be hurt or anything, he sounded good on the phone. Then again, Ryan’s brain goes into overdrive (he curses himself for being such a creative thinker), and all of sudden, he’s thinking of all the possibilities: Michael could have broken arm, broken leg, slash marks all over. Ryan starts panicking. Tries to calm himself down; not working- thinks he might need the ambulance soon, but he tries to calm himself down “we got him, he’s fine. We’ll deal with what we need to deal with here in a minute”.

Bring Michael out; Michael has to go to hospital for eval; not too badly bruised/battered. He’s been beat up a little on the face; bloody/split lip, but all in all, he seems ok. Thing that scares Ryan is Michael isn’t talking about it. He knows it’s part of survivor’s guilt/remorse deal. Ryan is like “Hey Michael, how are you doing?” Michael is like “Hey”, and it’s not the Michael that Ryan knows, and that’s what scares Ryan more than anything. He keeps trying to get Michael to talk to him; Michael won’t. Short answers, one word replies.

Ryan finally gives up and just sits there. Being the bodyguard like he’s supposed to do. He’s like “what can I do?” he knows there’s really nothing that can be done to help Michael right now; he just has to be there and Michael will talk when he’s ready, but Ryan wants Michael to talk right now. Ryan sits there.

Getting better; Michael starts asking more questions/gets more wordy in answers; at least they’re getting somewhere in the talking, so that’s a start.

Ryan is sitting in chair; Michael is sleeping. Cops come in (have been guarding room to make sure everyone’s safe), and Michael wakes up. Ryan sits there; he’s tired now. Even though he’s slept, he’s exhausted, so he’s gonna get ready to drift off to sleep. Michael wakes up and Ryan wakes up too, because “oh gosh, what’s going on?” Ryan lets guard back down. “It’s ok. We’re all ok.”

Michael asks, “How long have you been here?” Ryan looks at cell for time. “Uh, since they like brought you in here, uh, like 10 hours ago.” The look on Michael’s face takes Ryan by surprise; Michael gets mad and his face clouds over.

“You don’t have to be here with me. I don’t need a babysitter.” And Ryan just looks at Michael. “Um, I’m your bodyguard.”

Michael goes “I don’t need one of those; I’m fine.”

Ryan, being short on sleep (plus having a temper to start with), goes, “Oh yeah, you don’t, huh? Yeah, look how that worked out for ya.”

From there, escalates, really heated between them; only thing that stops it from being physical is 1. Michael is tied to the bed, and 2. Sets off alarms on heart monitor, etc. Nurses come running in to figure out what’s going on.

Ryan realizes he needs to get out before he does something that he regrets, or Michael does something that they’ll both regret later.

Ryan says, “Ok. I’m going home to sleep. I’ll be back in the morning, and I’ll bring Bob along.”

Michael goes “Ok. Whatever”

Ryan knows when he goes home, he’s not going to sleep, because he’s too worried, and then throw this twist into this; Michael isn’t wanting Ryan there to be the bodyguard. Ryan is torn; they never talked about what “this” was between them; they had done the date, and then this happens like a week after that. No “Talk” yet.

Ryan is “I don’t know what to think.” He goes home, doesn’t fall asleep. He tries watching pointless TV; hides phone (he’s going to be one of those people who impulsively buys things off of late night infomercials if he’s not careful), turns it on silent.

Misses phone call from Michael in middle of the night; sees voicemail in AM, and not quite sure if he should listen to it; is he going to yell at me more? But Ryan’s curiosity gets the best of him, and he listens.

Michael says, “Hey, I’m sorry. You know, I’m just, I don’t know. I don’t know how to explain how I’m feeling”. Ryan feels bad. He was mean to Michael; Michael was just as mean back. Ryan feels bad; they both need some space. Ryan calls hospital and asks to talk to Michael.

“Do you want me to come? Cause, I can stay here if you don’t. You know, let you have your space and let you deal how you need to deal.” Michael goes. “No, I really want you here. Will you please come?”

Ryan goes “Of course.” Goes in, and there’s this weird person standing in the room; Ryan is like “Ok?”

Michael goes. “Good, good. You’re right in time.”

Ryan looks at Michael. “Uh, what?”

“Oh, this is Sally here. She’s going to help me.”

Ryan looks. Ok, this is kind of strange. “Uh, Michael? What’s going on?”

Michael says “well, I kind of realized I needed to talk to somebody, and so, she’s here, she’s one of those. Uh, those counselor peoples.”

Ryan laughs. He remembers the first time they talked about the counseling for the relationships, how hesitant Michael was. “Ok, yeah, sure. But why am I right in time?”

Sally says, “Michael here was telling me that you’re the bodyguard, and everything.”

Ryan goes “Yes, I am.”

Sally goes, “Good. Let’s talk about things here and find out what’s going on.”

Ryan sits down. They sit there and talk; Michael comes out and says, “Ryan, you know I don’t blame you. I know I said it yesterday, but I don’t blame you. Ian, he’s a fucking piece of work, dude, and no matter what you would have done, he was going to do what he wanted to do. And you know, he knows my weakness. He always has known my weakness.”

Ryan’s head starts clicking together. “Wait a minute. You and Thorpe?”

Michael cringes. “Yeah. Don’t wanna talk about it. Long time ago. Long story. So over it.”

Ryan lets it drop; not going to press the issue right now, but it makes a little more sense. “Ok. Yeah.”

Michael goes, “Well, I don’t blame you. It happened. Not your fault. Nothing you could have done.”

Ryan says “I don’t blame you either. You’re you. Just because that happened, you shouldn’t change your way of how you do things.”

“I know.”

“But I know you’re going to because I know that’s how you are.” Ryan says.

Michael can’t help laugh that escapes; Ryan has a point.

With Sally there, they are able to work out differences, come to conclusion of how to make things work between them.

She pulls Ryan out into hall. “He’s great today, but he might not be great. There’s going to be days where you have to sit there and listen to him, don’t judge, and just be there.”

Ryan goes “I can do that.” Even though he knows it’s going to be hard, he knows he can do it, because it’s Michael, and he really cares about Michael, and they’ve may have never defined anything or made anything official, but he cares about M the person, not just his client. So, he’s going to do whatever it takes to make sure Michael is taken care of. If that means getting yelled at a few times, Ryan will deal with it. Not happily, but he’ll take it.

Michael is cleared medically to go home; Ryan goes “um, you’re coming to my house.” Michael goes to protest; Ryan says “dude, just let me. Because, he still knows where you live. You haven’t moved.” Michael “Oh, ok, Yeah, I guess you’re right. But man, we don’t have to spend a long time, do we?”

Ryan goes “We could go to the place we have in North Carolina.” Michael “Yeah, I guess we could. He doesn’t know about that.”

They both think; they haven’t really told anyone, and Michael never said anything in his interviews; as far as we know, it’s safe.

They decide to go to NC, to their place. Ryan for the fun of things purposely takes a wrong turn, just to get them lost. He needs to see Michael smile and hear him laugh, because that’s what he’s missed most. Having Michael so broken is bad. The misstep makes Michael laugh, and Ryan is happy, cause he missed that. A lot.

Start working on things; true to Sally’s word, Michael does have a couple of bad days, and he’s yelling at Ryan, throwing things, tries to kick Ryan out. Ryan for his part, takes it in stride, lets Michael get mad, and then lets Michael calm down, sit there, pause and think about it. They have adult conversation.

Over time, things get better. Michael decides to go to another charity event; Ryan is hesitant- he has a bad feeling about this, but Michael is like “no, trust me, we’re going to be ok.” Ryan “the last time I heard that, remember what happened?”

Michael goes, “yeah, really, but please trust me. It’s going to be ok.” Ryan believes him; R is trusting. He believes in Michael. “Ok, yeah, sure, everything’s going to be fine. Alright.”

Things get going; it’s ok for Michael, but for Ryan it’s not. One minute he’s there, and then the next, everything goes black, and Ryan isn’t quite sure what’s going on. He wakes up somewhere he’s not quite sure where he’s at, there’s no one else there with him, and oh crap, is that blood dripping down his arm?

He looks down. Yeah, that’s a pretty good gash that is going to need stitches. Fortunately, he had turned off cell and hide it in suit jacket pocket (that they somehow didn’t find), um, so he turns it on. It was on silent, so when it boots up, it doesn’t make any noise, and Ryan calls for ambulance.

“I don’t know where I am. I don’t if anybody’s holding me, but the last thing I remember is being at the swim meet with Michael Phelps, and the next thing I know, I woke up here, and I have a massive gash to my arm, and I’m bleeding and I’m really scared, and can you please come get me?”

Dispatcher keeps Ryan on line long enough to get address (via GPS) and everything, and then they’re sending medics. Ryan has never been more grateful for paramedics, because he doesn’t do well with the sight of blood; thinks he’s going to black out again.

Get him in back of ambulance, wrap up wound. That’s when he calls Michael.

“Dude, where are you?”

Ryan “I don’t know. The last thing I remember, we were at the meet, and then it all went black, and I woke up, and my arm is like messed up massively, and I don’t know where they’re taking me right now, but dude you gotta come. Please.”

Michael is like “I’m on my way. I’m coming. Hang on. Hand your phone to the medics so they can tell me where you’re going, and I’ll meet you there.”

Ryan does; medic tells Michael where they’re headed, and Michael has them hand phone back to Ryan. “Ryan, I’m on my way. Just hang on, ok? You’re gonna be ok. I’ll meet you, and we’re going to figure this out.”

Ryan smiles. _We_ got this. “Thank you. I’ll see you soon.”

“See you soon.” Michael says.

Ryan breathes a sigh of relief. Things will work out. Right now, he just wants the pain in his arm to go away, and he wants to see Michael’s face. Things are going black again, and then he fades completely out.

*

Ryan in hospital. Blacked out- that was a lot of blood, and that was his arm, and yeah, that shouldn’t have looked like that. Shock wore off and he passed out.

Doesn’t remember much of ER; he was out. When he comes to, Michael is sitting by the bed, and Ryan is “Uh, what? Who? Where am I?”

Michael “Good, you’re awake.”

Ryan “Huh?”

“Don’t you remember what happened?”

Ryan looks down at arm, that’s all bandaged up. “Oh, right. That. Uh.”

Michael goes “They fixed it.”

“Good.”

“After they had to give you 2 units of blood.”

Ryan goes “I lost that much blood?”

“Yep, you did buddy. And that was a pretty serious gash that they gave you there.”

Ryan “Oh, ok.”

“You can’t do anything for a couple weeks. Cause, they want your arm. You’ve got stitches, you’ve got staples.”

Ryan “Oh, so I’m like Frankenstein now, huh?”

“I guess you could say that.”

Doctor comes in. Tells Ryan, shows him some pics. Ryan does best not to hurl; eww. He only throw up in his mouth once, which is probably a win. Pain meds are helping a little with that. Doc says “we had to put stitches that are gonna stay in there to cure part of the bottom, because it went almost to the muscle. The thicker stuff has stitches that will stay in there and dissolve on their own, the top has stitches, and staples between the stitches. Those will need to come out in about a week. So you’ll need to follow up with a doctor for that. You’re pretty lucky; they missed all of the major arteries in the arm, so this person knew what they were doing.” Doctor looks at Ryan. “Do you know who did this at all?”

Ryan goes “no.” Back of his mind, he’s thinking it has to be Ian and Ian again, but why me? Why are they trying to hurt me when they’ve already got Michael? Those two are in custody anyway. He looks to Michael. “How many enemies do you have?”

Michael “uh, well, probably everybody I beat in the pool at one time or another.”

Ryan sighs. _Ok. Great_.

“But the two were probably Thorpe and Crocker. Those were the two big ones I had beefs with. I don’t know, maybe that Chinese dude? The one I beat in Beijing to get my gold medal.”

Ryan goes, “Yeah, but I don’t think he’d be that mad, would he?”

Michael goes “probably not.” He looks at Ryan. “Do you have any enemies?”

Ryan goes, “Not that I know of. It could have been a random attack, but I mean, you being kidnapped and then rescued, and then I get slashed up. Kind of makes me think this is related, but.”

Michael goes “Yeah, me too. Who else was involved in the Crocker/Thorpe situation?”

They both rack their brain; can’t think of anybody, so they’re like we’ll call it a draw for now, but that’s in the back of their minds now; they’re definitely watching a lot more closely, because yeah, that’s pretty scary.

Trial happens for Ian and Ian, and Michael has to go testify. Ryan knows Michael really doesn’t want to. Ryan is kind of funny looking cause he still has his arm bandaged up still, trying to wear suit jackets and cover up his arm.

The one day he wears a short sleeve shirt cause it’s really warm, and the damn bandages are bothering him; Crocker kind of makes the statement, “Oh, looks like somebody got to you too, huh?”

Just the way he says it, they both know that Ian had something to do with it. The jury realizes it too. They never do find out who did it, but they figure out that Ian hired the person, and it was a payback to Michael, wanting to hurt the people that Michael cares about and everything.

Convict Ian of kidnapping; can’t do anything regarding Ryan because nothing ever comes out who did/didn’t do anything, but they’ll take the win- he got 20 years. They’ll be good.

Michael “I think I need to take a break for a while, you know, go hide out for a while.” Ryan knows that, he’s talked to Debs, Michael got this way after he got that DUI, and Ryan is like “Ok, if that’s what you need to do, you do it. I’ll support you. And if you want to be alone, that’s cool too.”

Michael goes, “No, no, no. I still want you there as my bodyguard. I just want to take a break from the public eye for a while. Let everything die down. This is hard and uncharted waters, and you know. I just need a break.”

Ryan gets it; “Yeah, sure, whatever you want. I’m game. Just, can I like get my stitches out first?”

“Of course dude.”

Ryan gets stitches/staples out. Arm looks great; is gonna have one hell of a scar though, which is actually kind of neat, because it’s a good conversation starter. “What’d you do to your arm?” “Oh, I got slashed by a guy”.

Michael tells Bob and his parents, “I’m gonna take off for a bit. Ryan’s going to be with me. We’ll be fine. We’re just getting away, and I’m not going to tell anybody where I am for a little bit.” Family is supportive; it’s hard, especially after all that’s happened. He probably does need some space. The fact Ryan is there is helpful; is that part of the problem- they don’t say anything, let Michael have his space.

Michael goes “we’ll always be able to get a hold of you. We’re not going that far off the grid.” They laugh. That’s what happened last time; he went WAY off the grid, and no one could find him and they panicked, but this time, “we’re going to be good. We’re just going to have a little break here. You know, we’ll be in contact. I promise.”

Let him go; Michael starts to decide where to go. Always thought South America is awesome. “Do I go there? Do I go to a beach? Do I want to go overseas again? Do I want to stay here in the states? Go somewhere totally different.”

It starts keeping Michael awake at night; Ryan, who hasn’t been sleeping well due to traumatized by whole stab and grab issue (he has been talking to someone; it’s gonna take time), Ryan happens to walk by; Michael’s light is still on. Ryan knocks on door. Michael says “come in.”

“Can’t sleep either?” Ryan asks.

“No.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

Michael is hesitant. “Well, um, not really?”

“Ok, that’s cool.”

“But, you can stay if you want to.”

Ryan goes “O. Ok.” He sits on the bed by Michael. They start talking; things just come natural.

Ryan doesn’t realize he falls asleep on Michael until Michael shifts. “Uh?”

“Go back to sleep.” Michael says; Ryan does- he never really fully woke up. When he wakes up in the AM, he’s in the bed with Michael (weird, cause they haven’t shared a bed in a long time), and “Ok. This is different.”

They’re both fully clothed, so obviously nothing happened, but Ryan really doesn’t remember much of last night, and he doesn’t remember getting to Michael’s room. But, he wakes up. Michael is sound asleep (which is funny- Michael is usually up at the crack of dawn, and here it is, 8:30). Ryan carefully gets out of bed, sneaks down, makes a cup of coffee and comes back, and by that time Michael is starting to wake up.

“Where’d you go?”

“To get us coffee.”

Michael. “Oh. Wait a minute. What time is it?”

“Uh, like 8:30.”

“What? You let me sleep in? Dude!”

Ryan “You let me stay in bed with you. I wasn’t giving up the chance to cuddle with you.” He’s just teasing; the look on Michael’s face is kind of funny. Ryan goes “I’m kidding. I like, don’t remember what happened last night. I don’t remember how I got in here, so I’m like sorry if I was sleepwalking and came in and got all up in your space.”

Michael “It’s cool. No, you were up, cause you couldn’t sleep, and I couldn’t sleep. I told you to come in and stay. We started talking, and you fell asleep on me.”

“Oops. Sorry bout that.”

“Nah man, it’s cool. Thanks. For listening.”

“Yeah, sure, man. Any time.” Ryan said.

Michael drinks the coffee. “Your coffee making skills have gotten better over the last couple of months.”

“Oh shut it.” They both laugh; Michael can’t make a cup of coffee to save his life.

Get up; Michael is like “I think we should just go.” He pauses. “Like west for a while.”

“Ok. West? Just not Vegas please.”

“Uh, no. No thank you. I’m cool there. I was thinking like Idaho or CA or anywhere west. Just west.”

Ryan says “Yeah sure. You just say where and I’ll figure it out dude.”

“Give me a little more time and I’ll figure it out. I’ll talk to you, and we’re going by like the end of the week. Because your stitches are out, you can take care of yourself now, and I just want to get the hell out of here.”

Ryan understands; he totally does. And West? It won’t be too bad. It’d be good with the heat factor; it’d be more dry than humid, and that might be a good trade off. So west it is.

Decide on Idaho; it’s fall and there’s mountains and shit. He can go skiing and everything. Ryan jumps; it’s going to be cooler, but not like frozen tundra cold, like Baltimore would be.

Board plane; Ryan still doesn’t do well with planes; Michael sits there, and they chat, and it’s a nonstop flight; they talk whole time. “Ok, Cool. It just feels so natural.” Land in Idaho. Michael is like “Thank you for everything and coming.”

Ryan is like “Of course. You know I’d be here in like a heartbeat for you.” And he says it like that, and he means it like that. He can tell Michael figures it out. Michael says “Hey, yeah. Me too.” That’s like the first time they have “the Talk”, but it’s so brief and fleeting. Don’t have it for a while, because they’re trying not to draw attention to themselves; they’re just trying to be two bros just hanging out, and it’s working out well.

Have a nice rustic cabin, and it’s fun. Ryan gets decent a skiing; he’s more of a surfer, so skiing/snowboarding are similar to surfing.

Hanging out, being bros, and then Michael finally decides it’s time to take the next step and have that talk. Ryan is going to be on board with that, because they’ve talked about things, but not really, but now they’re going to get down to what this really is between them.

*

The talk. In Idaho. Sitting by fireplace; good view where there’s snow on the ground. Ryan turns to Michael and says “So, it seems like there’s something on your mind.” Michael realizes that yeah, it’s kind now or never. Time to take the risk; whatever happens will happen.

“Yeah, so I was thinking about. Us.”

Ryan goes, “Ok, what about us?”

Michael goes “You know, we hang out all the time, we’re like 2 bros, you know, I’m kind of wondering about something more.”

Ryan says “Yeah, I kind of had been too.”

“I’ve been wondering, and you know, maybe we should give it a shot.”

“Yeah, sure, why not?” Ryan says. “We pretty much have been dating the whole time anyway, so. Might as well make it official, right?”

Michael looks back. “Oh my god, we have been, haven’t we? Because we’ve dinners, we’ve done movies, we’ve done you there with me, I was with you in the hospital, and you were with me in the hospital. How in the hell did I miss this?”

Ryan laughs. “Dude, you’re like the most oblivious person in the world”. Michael laughs; Ryan has a point there.

They decide, yeah, let’s go for it. They decide they have to set some rules; this is uncharted territory for them. Really for Ryan, since he’s never dated anybody before. “Dude, if I screw this up, I am so sorry in advance.”

Michael goes. “Eh, no worries. We’ll make it work. We always do. That’s just how we are. We’re unconventional.” (That’s a good point there.)

We get going; decide to do it; Michael decides to go really slow, you know, move at Ryan’s pace, and it’s funny. Michael will bring home flowers one night; Ryan is like “Dude, really? I’m not a girl.” Michael “I’m just trying to be nice.”

Ryan will bring home dinner without being asked. Settle into pattern. Nice and normal. Nothing changes between them.

Finally comes to point where ok, this is working. Ryan still has that complex in his head still, but it’s getting better, and you know what, he’s willing to make it work. Let’s just try small things first.

So, first it’s stolen kisses on the couch or mini make-out sessions. I mean, just the little stuff. All of a sudden, Ryan is ready and he’s like “ok, let’s push this further.”

Michael is like “are you sure?”; he remembers how apprehensive Ryan was.

Ryan “Yeah, yeah, I’m ok dude. I’ll tell you if it’s not cool and we’ll stop.”

Michael goes ahead and he lets Ryan take the lead; Ryan, true to his word, stops it when it gets to be too much for him, and over time, he’s built it up that they’re able to make out and all that (which is pretty awesome), Michael would be lying if he said he didn’t miss that part of the relationship, because it’s pretty awesome, but the little bits he gets now, he’ll take it.

Moves slowly but surely; gets to Ryan feeling a little more brave; he takes the first step, and he decides to blow Michael. He must thank the internet porn he’s watched, because, yeah, he was good. He laughs, because Michael laughs and goes “really dude?” and then Michael shows Ryan how it’s done, and yeah, definitely need to learn that.

Been about a year, they’re back from Idaho, and things have blown over; Michael has started doing appearances again. Not as frequently as he used to, because he’s still hesitant with everything that’s happened. Mostly charity events now. Ryan is still there as the bodyguard/boyfriend now.

He’s totally using the “boyfriend” card now here and there to get into things that he normally couldn’t get in to. He also uses the “bodyguard” card if the boyfriend card doesn’t work.

Dinners, movies, flowers, the whole shebang, the chocolates, all that. Making out, trading off. One day, Ryan looks at Michael, “You know what? I think I’m ready.”

Michael is taken aback at first; this has been a big deal. Just the way Ryan is nonchalant and blurts it out, Michael is like “are you sure?”

Ryan says, “Yeah, sure.”

Michael goes, “Do we need to go back and talk to the counselor?”

Ryan “If you must.”

“It’ll put my mind at ease, ok?”

Ryan goes, cause he’ll do anything for Michael.

Ryan is like “Dude, I’m serious. It’s cool, I can do this.”

Michael still a little afraid; he trusts Ryan though, and knows Ryan will say something if it’s too much too soon. Michael decides to do all the romantic shit- the candlelight dinner, the rose petals down the hallway (which makes Ryan laugh so hard that he about falls over and about dies cause he forgets to breathe- Michael has to slap him on the back).

“What, I just want it to be perfect.”

“Dude, we are so far from perfect.”

“I know. But I just wanted it, for you.”

Ryan goes “you could have gotten me pizza, beer, and wings, and I totally would have done you.” It’s Michael’s turn to choke on his water because, ok, yeah, got a point there.

First time, totally awkward (like you would expect it to be). Ryan is pretty funny in it all; trying to fumble around and figure out what to do. Michael is trying to guide him. Ryan is like “shut up, let me figure this out on my own.” Funny and awkward; totally Ryan and Michael about it; Ryan wouldn’t change it for the world.

He’s not quite all the way comfortable with letting Michael do him yet, he’s getting there though. Michael shows him a little bit; Ryan says “no, not yet.” Michael backs off; he’s going to be honest, it’s not something that’s easy to get used to, and it still feels weird every time, but he knows in time, at his own pace, Ryan will come around to a decision.

They do things here and there; a couple months later. Ryan is like “let’s try that.” He’s a little tight at first; never done it, and he’s nervous as hell, but the way Michael works him through it and just talks to him just makes Ryan relax. It’s like the best thing Ryan has experienced, and yeah, he wants to do that part of it more, all the time, every day. He’s pretty sure he’s going to make Michael cancel all his events cause, yeah, he wants Michael all to himself.

**They live happily ever after**

Michael even decides to give up the charity event deals; turns it over to someone else (not sure who-maybe Conor or Nathan?). He doesn’t enjoy swimming anymore like he used to; he also wants to be the domestic housewife and bake shit, which is funny. Ryan is content to let Michael do that. Ryan offers to go out and work, but Michael is like, “Nope, you’re with me. You’re my bodyguard still.”

Ryan goes “At home?” Michael “Yep”. They laugh.

The time comes. Michael thinks “You know, we’ve essentially been dating for 3 years now, and we’re pretty much together all of the time anyway, and I don’t want to spend another minute alone”. He mans up and does the whole proposal. It’s sweet and totally them. Michael picks out the ring because, hell no, Ryan would pick out something way too “Blingy” for Michael’s taste, and when Ryan took the ring, he’s like “really?” and Michael goes “you can go pick out your own ring if you want to, but this is the one because you’d pick out something entirely way too blinged out and draw attention to us, and even though I’m retired, I don’t want attention drawn to us.”

Ryan goes, “alright. You make a valid point. But, when we do the renewal of the vows in five years, because you totally know we’re going to do that” Michael grins; his heart tightens. Ryan is thinking long-term here, and that’s good. Michael goes “what about that?”

Ryan “I’m picking out the rings for that one.” Michael lets Ryan have that; he can deal with that.

Total bros about it; Michael swims here and there (more for exercise and fun); gets Ryan to come too, it doesn’t have to always be about competitions, it’s about doing what you love. Ryan at one point loved swimming. Be happy, stay healthy.

Michael somehow gets roped into being swim coach. He’s not quite sure how it happens, but he’s pretty sure Alison had something to do with it, cause she’s at the pool all the time; he’s blaming her whether or not it’s her fault.

Ryan likes to blame Alison. He also likes to blame Cullen, cause that’s totally something Cullen would do. Probably both together; interesting things happen when you get those two together.

Michael gets swim coach job; Ryan is there all the time too. Ryan will help sometimes too (like the “unofficial” assistant)

Ryan starts watching Michael with kids; he’s always thought there was something missing. Thought at first was sex (not the case, that’s going great). Michael’s parents and Ryan’s parents have never brought up grandkids talk. He figures because other siblings have kids.

As he watches Michael in pool with kids, he realizes THAT’s what’s missing. Ryan isn’t quite sure how to bring up subject; this is like a lifelong commitment (not that marriage isn’t); this is a “someone’s going to depend on you” commitment. Ryan isn’t sure if Michael wants it or not, or if he just wants it to be Michael and Ryan forever, so Ryan is hesitant.

Ryan has a couple more beers than he should before Michael gets home (Ryan didn’t go to practice today); Ryan is 3 in when Michael gets home. Dinner is on the table, and Ryan has a couple more (it’s Friday- it’s pizza, wings, and beer night). Michael picks up on Ryan’s apprehension. “Ryan, have you been drinking?”

“Uh, maybe?”

Michael sighs. “Ok, what’s going on? You only do it in excess when there’s something on your mind that you can’t figure out.”

It’s probably the combination of Michael looking at him and being disappointed in him; Ryan feels really bad. You know, that’s how he deals, it’s how he always has dealt. And then the other portion is the alcohol is involved, so Ryan is like, “What do you think about a kid?”

Michael stops for a second. “Ok, so I’m not the only one who’s thinking along that line. Ryan feels relieved; they’re on the same page here.

“Ok, good, I didn’t know how you felt about that.”

Michael goes “If you’re on board, I’m totally on board.” Start the adoption process.

2 months before kid is born, Michael is like “Ok, one last trip. We have to go on like our last babymoon thing before the kid comes.”

Ryan is all “you plan that. I’m game with whatever.”

Go to some beach- Havana. Copacabana.

They all live happily ever after!


End file.
